What's His Passion 2 - Climbing the Savage Mountain (19 page)

“No. Jigger’s fine. He’s at the house, watching Pammy and Coop for us. Now that you’re awake, he’ll be by to see you later.” Toby took a hold of Jensen’s elbow since he couldn’t do anything with his hands. “He told us what happened.”

“I was just going down the ridge. We’d gone up the same way. There shouldn’t have been anything wrong. It should’ve been safe.” Jensen started panting as he thought about how close he’d come to dying on that mountain.

Toby rested his forehead against Jensen’s. “Breathe with me, Jensen. In and out. In and out,” he said softly, inhaling deeply and slowly exhaling.

He stared into Toby’s eyes, doing as his husband ordered. His panic began to ease and the bands around his chest loosened.

“I’d like to check him out, if he’s okay?”

When Toby stepped back, a doctor stood with a slight smile on his face. He didn’t want Toby to let go of him and Toby must have figured that out.

“I’ll be right here where you can see me,” Toby told him. “I’m not leaving.”

Every time he looked, Toby was right where he’d promised he’d be and Jensen was relieved. He’d been so afraid that Toby would leave him after he got hurt, even though he still didn’t remember the whole event.

The doctor checked his eyes and everything while talking to him. Then he lifted the blanket to look at Jensen’s leg. When he saw the large white cast around it, Jensen drooped in his bed.

“I didn’t lose it,” he whispered.

“Oh no. You broke the femur and the tibia on your left leg.” The doctor tapped the cast. “It’ll take you a while to heal, but the surgeons were able to put screws and a plate in. You’ll have a limp and probably know when it’s going to storm.”

Jensen held up his hands. “What about these?”

“Those are going to be tricky. You got burns across your palms. As you fell, you must have grabbed a hold of the rope and it tore through your gloves. Plus you have frostbite on all the fingers on your right hand. Not sure how that happened, though it could’ve been pulled off when you fell. From what I understand, it was rather cold where your accident happened, as well as you were in the middle of a freak snowstorm. It took your friends time to get to you.”

Toby whimpered and Jensen reached for him. The doctor moved out of the way, seeming to understand how Toby was feeling. Jensen did the best he could to wrap his arms around Toby, not caring about the wires and IVs. Toby buried his face in Jensen’s neck and whimpered again.

“You’re doing well. I’ll stop by tomorrow. Have the nurse call me if you have any questions or problems.” The doctor patted his leg then left.

Jensen met Nancy’s concerned gaze over Toby’s head and gave her a weak smile. He wished he could offer her his hand to hold, but that was impossible with the injuries he’d suffered. She touched his blanket-covered right foot and he got that she knew what he was thinking.

“Cat, why don’t you and I go grab some supper for Toby? That way he can eat in here with Jensen,” Nancy suggested.

“Sounds good. Actually I could use something to eat as well.” Cat gave him a quick kiss before leaving with Nancy.

Once the ladies were out of the room, he eased Toby away from him and frowned when he couldn’t wipe the tears off Toby’s face. Toby chuckled softly then swiped his sleeve over his cheeks to get rid of them.

“I’m sorry,” Jensen said again.

Toby held up his hand. “Stop. Don’t keep apologizing. You don’t need to say you’re sorry anymore for leaving all those years and you certainly don’t need to apologize for this. This wasn’t your fault. It was a simple accident that could’ve happened to anyone climbing that mountain.”

He bit back another “I’m sorry” and exhaled in annoyance at the bandages on his hands. “How am I supposed to do things with these?”

Taking Jensen gently in his hands, Toby bent to place a kiss on each of his palms. “Mom’s going to stay for a little while until the bandages come off. Once that happens—as long as you take it easy—you should be able to use them just fine. The doctors say the wrappings can come off in a couple of days, but you won’t be able to use them that much for another two weeks or so. You’ll have rehab to get the muscles and tendons working again. The rope cut really deep.”

As much as he hated the thought of someone taking care of him, he knew that Toby wouldn’t be able to take that much time off to do it. They’d deal with Toby’s mom being there.

“What about my leg?”

Toby shrugged. “That’ll be longer, but once your hands are better, it’ll be easier for you to get around. Coop will learn not to trip you up. God, that dog is going to be so happy to see you. He’s been missing you like crazy.”

Jensen grinned. “I’ve missed him too, though not as much as I’ve missed you. I’m glad this was my last climb, especially now that I’ve done this.” He motioned to all of his injuries.

After sitting on the edge of the bed, Toby studied him. “Do you remember all of what happened?”

“Not all of it. Did I hit my head too?” He went to touch the back of his head.

Toby caught him before he did anything. “Yes, you did, but it was a glancing blow. There’s a bump there and I’m sure if you messed with it, it’d hurt.”

Grimacing, he nodded. “You’re probably right.”

He glared down at his lap, not sure what he was feeling. There was pain from his hands and leg, plus he was sure he had bruises all over his body from his fall. There was definitely shock that something like this could’ve happened to him, but the odds were good that he was going to experience some kind of incident on a mountain the longer he continued to climb. Denali was his first and while he hadn’t wanted to repeat what happened there, it looked like he had managed to have a worse accident, anger that he ended up hurt because of no fault of his own.

Not that he wanted to be the cause of the situation, but still maybe he would’ve been able to explain the events leading up to it if he knew exactly what had gone wrong. Yet the only thing he could blame was the one thing he couldn’t control. K2 wasn’t a forgiving mountain. It changed second to second, without giving notice. They had made their way up to the summit the same route as they’d come down.

“Ransom had set up two acclimatization climbs for us. We could’ve done it with just one, but we had the time and he didn’t want to rush it. As much as I wanted to come home to you, I also was really enjoying being on the mountain.” Jensen shot a quick glance at Toby to see how he reacted to that.

Toby nodded. “Of course you did. It would be like me going on a skiing trip without you. I’d love every minute of it, but I’d also really miss being with you.”

He was glad Toby got what he was trying to say. “Right. I was getting some awesome shots and Jigger and I were doing great with the different climbs. Even the rock climbs, which aren’t our strengths, were going well.”

“What about weather? You didn’t tell me about it when we talked, and Simpson forbid me to check the reports.” Toby chuckled. “I have a tendency to obsess about that.”

“No. Really?” He tried to move away before Toby could pinch him lightly on the side, but having a cast made him pretty much immobile. “We had good weather. It might have been too good. The sun at the upper levels of the mountain would melt the snow and ice, which is what I think could’ve caused me to fall.”

A yawn caught him off guard and Toby’s expression softened. He leaned in to trail his finger over Jensen’s jaw before placing a kiss on his lips.

“Why don’t you take a nap? Now that you’ve been awake for a while and the doctor has checked you over, I think you can get some uninterrupted sleep for a change.” Toby stood then lowered the head of the bed slightly. He tucked Jensen in, pulling the blankets tight around him. “I’ll be right here when you wake up and we’ll talk some more.”

Jensen nodded, suddenly unable to keep his eyes open. The last thing he saw before he fell asleep was Toby wiping another tear from his cheek while smiling down at him.

Chapter Eighteen

We had forgotten that the mountain still holds the master card, that it will grant success only in its own good time.

—Eric Shipton

Toby raised his head from where he had laid it on his arms. He’d been sitting next to Jensen’s bed, watching him sleep when his own exhaustion had swept over him. Resting his arms on the edge of the mattress, he’d put his head down and he must have fallen asleep.

He saw his mother, Cat and Jigger peek around the door. Waving for them to come in, he stood then stretched, cringing at the sound of his vertebra popping as he moved. His mom gave him a quick hug as did Cat. Jigger shook his hand.

“How’s he doing?” Jigger tipped his head in Jensen’s direction.

“Good. The doctor said he’ll be fine. It’ll just take a while to heal, but there won’t be any lasting damage.” Toby had been so relieved to hear that. “He won’t be a hundred percent, but he won’t lose any fingers, toes or his leg.”

Jigger looked happy. “Good. Hey, we brought you some food.”

Cat held up a bag and Toby’s stomach growled. He hadn’t eaten since that morning and after Jensen woke up for good, he had forgotten about getting a meal. Nancy cleared a spot for him off the little table in the corner.

“Who’s watching Pammy and Coop?” he asked, as he sat and inhaled the smell of the clam chowder coming from the plastic container Cat put in front of him.

“Your father. He’ll be by tomorrow to check on Jensen.” Nancy patted his shoulder then began to putter around the room, straightening things.

“I appreciate everything you’re doing for us, Mom.” Toby snagged her wrist to pull her into a quick hug. “I’m not sure I’d be able to hold it together without your help—all of you.” He included Cat and Jigger with his smile.

Jigger snorted. “Man, I was up there with him. I kind of feel responsible for the whole fucking accident.”

Toby dropped his spoon into the soup before whirling to meet Jigger’s guilty expression. “Why? Did you know the weakened snow covered a crevasse and chose not to tell Jensen? Did you shove him so that he fell?”

“No!” Jigger’s eyes widened at those suggestions. “I’d never do that. I had no clue.”

“Then it wasn’t your fault. You got to him as fast as you could and did everything you could to keep him safe and alive until you could get to the hospital.” Toby gripped Jigger’s arm and squeezed. “Trust me. He doesn’t blame you for any of it, and I certainly don’t.”

Jigger didn’t seemed convinced and Toby figured he would have to hear it from Jensen himself before he started letting go of that guilt. And he might always feel like he could’ve done something differently to keep Jensen from getting hurt. It was something everyone did when friends were injured.

“Is that clam chowder?”

They all swung around when Jensen spoke. Nancy bustled over to help him sit up and gave him a hug when she was done. Jigger went over and the two friends shared a silent moment staring into each other’s eyes.

“I’m sorry, man,” Jigger murmured.

Jensen shook his head. “There’s nothing to be sorry for. I remember hearing you shout around the same time as the ledge went out from under me. Was there a crack—or something—that you heard to make you do that?”

Jigger swallowed as he nodded. Cat shoved the chair to him and he took a seat. Toby went back to working on the supper they’d brought for him. He listened as they talked.

“Yeah. To be honest, I had a strange feeling when we reached that section, but I couldn’t put my finger on what was throwing me off.” Jigger hung his head. “Maybe if I’d said something, Ransom would’ve had us take a different line down.”

“Nah.” Jensen tapped Jigger on the head then grimaced as pain must have hit him. “I felt the same thing, but I thought it was just me being weird because everything had gone well on K2 and Everest. I should’ve known not to jinx us like that.”

Cat giggled. “We’re all superstitious when it comes to climbing, so yeah, you probably shouldn’t have thought that.”

“It’s as though the climbing gods are watching and the moment you think you’re home free, they throw shit at you just to laugh as you fumble along trying to figure out how the hell you’re going to get out of it,” Jigger explained to Toby and Nancy.

“Makes sense,” Toby commented. He scooted his chair across the floor so he was closer to Jensen.

Jensen met his gaze, giving Toby a glimpse of how tired and in pain he was. Toby wished he could take it all away from Jensen, but there wasn’t anything he could do. Both the tiredness and the pain would fade after a while. It would simply take time.

“How were the two acclimatization climbs? Those went fine, right?” He thought maybe going through the whole trip would help Jensen settle what went on in his mind.

“It took us seven days to get to the K2 base camp from Askole. We trekked in and Jensen got some awesome shots of the mountain wreathed in clouds. It got even more amazing every day we got closer to it. Weather was good and we didn’t have any problems getting over the Baltoro glacier to camp.” Jigger’s excitement infused his voice. Toby could only imagine what he’d been like during the trip if he was still so thrilled about it afterward.

He watched as Jensen seemed to perk up, his eyes lighting with an almost fanatical glow.

“After two rest days, we started working on setting up the higher camps, plus getting used to the altitude. The first real challenge was the House’s Chimney between Camp One and Camp Two.” Jensen stopped for a moment as though he were remembering it. “It’s a pretty much straight vertical crack that you have to go through to get to Camp Two.”

“The second bitch of a climb is the Black Pyramid, which is what you have to negotiate the entire way between Camp Two and Camp Three. That one is a killer for sure, if you don’t know what you’re doing or don’t take your time. While we’re doing this, we’re also working on establishing the fixed ropes for the climbs and summit push. So there’s a lot going on and you have to pay attention.” Jigger picked up Jensen’s backpack that had come to the hospital with him from the airport when they flew him home from Pakistan. “I think your camera’s still in here. We can show you some pictures of the climbs.”